Paul Nabity

1500 Institute for Genomic Biology
1206 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801 (MC 195)
Email: pnabity2@uiuc.edu

Lab: (217) 333-1632
Home:(402) 203-1547

CV

Greetings,

I joined the DeLucia lab during the summer of 2006 after earning my MS in Entomology from the University of Nebraska. I came here to combine my experience and passion for insects with a rigorous training in plant biology. At first, I thought plants were essential autotrophs that functioned as aesthetic and culinary objects for insects. Everything green was the next meal for any one of my six-legged friends. Can you believe how amazed I was when I learned that not only do plants not want to be consumed, but they have devised innumerable sophisticated means of avoiding, deterring, or compensating for herbivory!

With a vested interest in insect-plant interactions, albeit a newly defined scope, I am focusing on the interplay between insect herbivores and induced-plant responses. Currently I am using a variety of Nicotiana genotypes to investigate the JA signaling cascade and its relationship to ROS, insect performance and climate change scenarios. I am also evaluating insect performance and screening various genotypes for physiological costs to photosynthesis associated with defense-signal induction. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg…

Using a new imaging system our lab developed I am also working to spatially resolve guild-specific direct and indirect affects of herbivory on plant fluorescence. For now, my objectives are to: further investigate the relationships between insect herbivores and plant response, and model the interactions between the insect herbivore and plant.

Much like the cockroaches in our new building, our lab is slowly being infested by entomologists-turned-plant-biologists interested in insect-plant relationships! And yes, we are just as difficult to pin down. But should you need to contact me use the contact information listed above.

Publications

Plant-focused:

• DeLucia EH, CL Casteel, PD Nabity, & BF O’Neill. 2008. Insects take a bigger bite out of plants in a warmer, higher carbon dioxide world. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105:1781-1782
• Nabity, PD, TM Heng-Moss, & LG Higley. 2006. Effects of insect herbivory on physiological and biochemical (oxidative enzyme) responses of the halophyte Atriplex subspicata (Chenopodiaceae). Environ. Entomol. 35:1677–1689
• Nabity, PD & KD Hoagland. 2006. Seedbank viability of potential saline wetland restoration sites in agro-ecosystems. Great Plains Research. 16:173–180

• Spomer SM, PD Nabity, & ML Brust. 2008. Larval description of Cicindela (Dromochorus) pruinina (Casey) (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae) with notes on habitat and adult behavior (in press) Coleopterists’ Bull.
• Nabity, PD, LG Higley, & TM Heng-moss. 2007. Light-induced variability in development of forensically important blow fly Phormia regina (Diptera: Calliphoridae). J. Med. Entomol. 44:351-358
• Nabity, PD, LG Higley, & TM Heng-Moss. 2006. Effects of temperature on development of Phormia regina and use of development data in determining time intervals in forensic entomology. J. Med. Entomol. 43:1276–1286
• Brust, ML, WW Hoback, SM Spomer, WJ Allgeier, and PD Nabity. 2005. New county records for Nebraska tiger beetles. Cicindela. 37:37–58
• Spomer, SM, WJ Allgeier, and PD Nabity, 2004. A fall collecting trip to southwestern and western Nebraska and a new state record for Cicindela decemnotata. Cicindela. 36:57–59